Wall St rebounds as sales point to healthy economy

US stocks rose erasing much of the previous session's steep drop, after as a strong December retail sales reading eased concerns about a slowdown in the economy.

Google rose 2.4 percent to $1,149.40, giving a large boost to the outperforming Nasdaq, a day after the technology giant announced plans to acquire Nest Labs Inc, scooping up a promising line of products and a prized design team for $3.2 billion in cash.

Volume was roughly in line with the year-to-date average of about 6.5 billion shares traded on US exchanges, according to data from BATS Global Markets. Monday's sharp decline came in volume of 7.22 billion shares.

The dollar gained against the yen, but traded near break-even against the euro and the dollar index.

The dollar was up 1.17 percent at 104.18 yen, and the dollar index edged up 0.13 percent at 80.620. The euro rose 0.06 percent to $1.3679.

US oil rose as traders squared positions amid signs of strength in the US economy, while Brent fell as incremental increases in Libyan oil supply and expectations that Iranian crude will return to market weighed on prices.

The February Brent crude contract, which expires on Thursday, settled down 36 cents at $106.39 a barrel. US crude settled at $92.59, up 79 cents a barrel.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading regional shares closed up 0.15 percent at 1,326.37, while the broader MSCI all-country world index, which tracks shares in 45 countries, rose 0.23 percent, rebounding from early losses.

German Bund futures settled up 3 ticks at 140.68 euros. Spanish government bond yields dipped to 3.83 percent as data showing the Spanish economy grew at its fastest pace since 2008 in last year's fourth quarter supported demand before debt sales later this week.